Pleasant Surprises at government offices

One of the pleasantly surprising experience has been at the various government agencies unless I have been too lucky.

Railways: I found the railway ticket counter clerks and reservation clerks working so hard, I was simply amazed. The process of reserving tickets was very orderly at the Jayanagar branch. People were provided with seats to sit while they waited for their turn to be called for reserving. Small things that we take for granted in US, but a big relief in India in a govt office.

RTO (DMV): Getting a license was the easiest part and once again I was amazed by the efficiency of the staff. You can get a driver's license very quickly if you have a US license. The process was very simple

1) Fill out the Form 4, 2 and 7.
2) Provide 3 passport size photos
3) Pay Rs 350.
4) Provide address proof (utility bill, rental agreement etc)

5) Once you provide the above, they take a digital photograph (no clue why they ask for 3 photos if they are anyway going to take your picture) and capture your signature on a digital pad.

6) Once that is done (takes about 45 min) you can get your license the next day evening.

My suggestion is get the license done first since it will serve as your address proof and photo Id, which are asked everywhere you go.

Customs: This one blew me off. The customs officers were so friendly and so helpful you were wondering if you were in another country. The inspection of the container was about 30 - 45 min. Because I had already provided a detailed inventory list, he only set aside the boxes with electronic items. Of all those boxes, since some of them were new and I had declared them as such, he did not even open them. Only 3-4 boxes were opened. After the inspection, the officer told me, how much he hates to levy duty on goods brought under TR(Transfer of Residence) and so proactively discussed it with his boss on best to reduce the duty. What surprised me wa, the boss was equally helpful giving some pointers on how we could club certain items into a general category and let them pass duty free. In the end they asked me to pay Rs 25000 which was so reasonable considering all the new things I had. Every thing was done in a day. Although we were there from 11 am to 5 pm, it could have taken even less time if not for the clearance agent (appointed by the shipping company) who was busy handling another customer.

Here is the custom clearance process:

Once the container reaches Bangalore, the shipping company and the clearance agent locally will inform you of its arrival.
You will then have to go to the clearance agent and provide him with copies of all pages of your passport and PIO card.
The clearance agent takes care of all the paper work.
Get to CCI (Container Corporation of India) near WhiteField (near ITPL) by 10:30 am. Carry your passport with you.
Before the inspection, be truthful and declare everything as is. If you have receipts take them with you.
After the inspection, the customs officer will tell you about the duty. You can negotiate with the officers to lower it (not by bribing). In our case we did not have to since they proactively did it.
Do not use any kind of agent or broker.
It is better that both husband and wife go together since it will give the officers a sense of your family and they are likely to be more considerate when they a decent looking couple.
Do not try to drop names of other superior officers or bring any kind of influence since it is not worth it and more likely to piss of these younger officers who do not like to be influenced the old way.
I have seen the younger officers at both airport and container clearance to be very understanding. Best approach is to be honest and sincere.

Getting back to the process, once you agree with the duty, pay it in SBI right next door (if you do not have cash, go to ITPL (2km) where you have all banks ATM).
After the cash is paid, the agent gets the signatures done, and the final step is the passport endorsement.
After that, depending on the time left you may get your goods delivered the same day or the next day.
Have atleast 3 people be at home when the goods arrive. One person needs to be near the truck making sure all the boxes are brought in.
The second person needs to check each box against the inventory list while the third person can be directing and escorting the movers to various rooms.

Definitely tip each mover individually, who make hardly any money.

Try to report any damage to the good within 2-3 days to the shipper you hired in US.